6: The Frydendahl facility in Livermore also had this
smallish corrugated steel warehouse, with a loading
platform at truck height. Lots of oil drums are stacked
on the platform. – Author photo.
6
fuel in rural areas. Gasoline went from a minor product to a
major one in the 1920s, but increasingly the oil companies
delivered directly to filling stations. However, oil dealers con-
tinued to stock and sell gasoline as a farm fuel. Heating oil was
and is quite regional is use, with some areas far more depen-
dent than others. But virtually the same material, “fuel oil,”
is used for a wide variety of commercial and industrial needs.
Diesel fuel was almost non-existent at bulk dealers before
about 1950, but in the years since, has become a major part of
bulk oil sales.
A particular dealer might have as few as two or three tanks,
or as many as a dozen. Moreover, some tanks might be much
smaller than others, for small-volume fuels. And as mentioned,
within bulk oil dealer facilities, a variety of tanks are visible,
often similar but not identical. These are characteristics desir-
able to capture in a model.
